GAINESVILLE, Fla. (September 21, 2019) – Despite career-high blocking performances by freshman
Neche Newton and junior
Heaven Harris, the Northern Arizona volleyball team could not reject one final rally by Liberty in their Gators Invitational finale. The Lady Flames staved off two Lumberjack match points to earn a 15-25, 25-20, 25-21, 12-25, 17-15 victory Saturday morning.
As a result, NAU will carry a 7-5 record into the start of conference play next Thursday at home versus Weber State. Three of NAU's five non-conference losses came in five sets.
"Liberty was a lot more consistent than us and they kept their composure for longer stretches in the match," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "It was a great match and Liberty played great. They made one play at the end that gave them that lift."
Newton, making just her second career start, notched 11 blocks as part of a 17-block barrage by the 'Jacks. Her 11 blocks were the most by a freshman since senior
Abby Akin also posted 11 in her first season. All 11 of Newton's blocks were assisted, as she became the sixth player in program history to total 11 block assists in a match.
Harris, who was named to her fourth All-Tournament Team of the fall, teamed with Newton for six of her career-high nine blocks. She narrowly missed her career double-double as Harris added 15 kills on .419 hitting. Harris was particularly scorching in the fourth set where she tallied seven kills on nine swings.
"Heaven did a great job of making some plays in the fourth set and giving us some energy," Murphy said. "She showed great leadership while we were down and gave us a shot going into the fifth set. I thought Neche stepped in and did a really good job too. Liberty had a couple of good middle hitters and she hung with them and did some good things defensively."
NAU also received five blocks each from Akin and sophomore
Ryann Davis with the latter tying her career-high. Still, although NAU posted a 17.0-9.0 blocks advantage, Liberty tallied eight more kills than NAU and had 26 more attempts.
The Lumberjacks ripped off five aces – three coming from Akin – during a 13-5 start to the match. Behind tough service pressure and three blocks each by Newton and Harris from the get-go, NAU claimed the opening set.
NAU's five first-set aces was part of a season-best 12-ace output. Akin's season-high four aces led six different Lumberjacks with sophomore
Aubrea Bandfield matching a season-best with three.
Liberty used two critical 4-0 runs in the second and third sets to move ahead in the match, 2-1. In the second set, Liberty scored four straight following an Akin kill that cut NAU's deficit to a single point at 18-17. The Lady Flames' late run was crucial in helping them overcome a .300 attack clip by the 'Jacks in the set.
Both teams traded runs early in the third set, but Liberty's 4-0 run to snap a 9-9 tie was the difference maker. Down six, NAU put together a late rally to climb back to 22-20 following an ace by senior
Abby Stomp, but the Lumberjacks could not climb out of the hole completely.
With her team needing a set win to extend the match, Harris put the Lumberjacks on her back. Harris helped NAU flip the scoreboard squarely in its favor with five consecutive kills at one point. She recorded all seven of her set kills during a massive 12-3 run that turned a 7-5 deficit into a 17-10 advantage.
NAU finished the fourth set with the final four points and promptly came out with a 4-1 run to start the fifth set. The 'Jacks maintained control and led 13-10 before the Lady Flames knotted up the score at 13-13. Harris gave NAU its first match point with a kill and Akin put the Lumberjacks up 15-14 with a second opportunity to close out the win. However, Liberty sealed up the rally with three straight points – and seven of the last nine in all.
Akin paced the Lumberjacks' offense with 16 kills on .560 hitting – both of which were season-highs. Complementing Akin and Harris was freshman
Taylor Jacobsen, who notched 11 kills.
Jacobsen (11 kills, 10 digs) and Bandfield (20 assists, 12 digs) recorded double-doubles. Freshman
Jasmine West led NAU with 28 digs to set a new season-best herself.
The Lumberjacks will host Weber State in a matchup between the top two teams in the Big Sky Preseason Poll in the conference opener at Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in Rolle Activity Center. NAU will also host Idaho State on Saturday at 1 p.m. next week.
